A Model for Systematically Managing the Process of Developing Innovations in New Markets

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Such a model would focus on meeting the needs of local customers and would provide the opportunity for innovators to generate ideas by associating different factors in key resources and processes of the business model. It should not only be feasible for developing new products and services, but also work in the context of business model innovation.

There are myriad challenges for developing innovations in new markets. There are questions over how to identify customers’ unmet needs, whether to adapt or innovate, what process should be applied, when to innovate in the business model, and so on. However there is no established, systematic model that can be used to develop innovations specifically for new markets.

A possible solution is to create a model to manage the process of generating innovations in new markets. Such a model would focus on meeting the needs of local customers and would provide the opportunity for innovators to generate ideas by associating different factors in key resources and processes of the business model. It should not only be feasible for developing new products and services, but also work in the context of business model innovation.

Innovation Poker was designed as a practical model for systematically managing the process of developing innovations for new markets. The game is made up of 6 rounds which successively inspire players to identify key resources and key processes in the business model as the origins of innovation. It applies the lotus flower from design thinking as its primary tool for ideation, which is simple and easy for participants to understand. With its help, ideas and concepts are generated and collected to be used for the following rounds of the game.

The players should be team members who know the company’s strategy and status quo well. The process of 6 rounds provides the opportunity for participants to systematically analyse the current status of the company in order to identify advantage factors and those not yet available. Innovations can subsequently be generated with the association of these identified factors.

Innovation Poker has been tested in three organizations and also been used on the pilot project for designing the innovation strategy and projects for a company. The pilot project worked out successfully by launching three projects with sources and partners in both Europe and in new markets. Moreover, since Innovation Poker is focusing on the key resources and key processes of the business model, some factors such as communicating and marketing actually provide the chance to generate innovations with less cost than traditional R&D, making it a useful tool for start-ups whose budgets are limited. Furthermore, the association of diverse factors in the value chain enables large and mature companies to find various teams of origin for innovations for new markets.

Innovation Poker was originally designed to be a practical model. It can be used in daily innovation management practice. However, as a new toolkit, it should be tested further in a variety of organisations for further development and refinement.